I'll Set You Free
by Requiem of the Phoenix
Summary: A robot is a robot until it becomes human. One-shot.


Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling.

Sirius stared down at his hands, so deceivingly human. He looked back up at Harry, who stood several feet away from him, his face emotionless.

Emotionless.

An exact reflection of what Sirius was inside - incapable of feeling love, hate, happiness, anger, sorrow. He felt _nothing._ Every minute of the day, each second that passed so slowly, he was numb.

"What's the matter, Siri?" Harry's soft voice broke the silence that stretched between them.

"Nothing....." Sirius answered in a monotone. Vaguely, he realized that Harry's question had been almost mocking. Sirius tried to smile, but the expression felt wrong, and Harry mimicked his grimace.

Something stirred in Sirius' belly, but it was so fleeting that he could not decipher its meaning.

"I'm going to meet Ron and Hermione in Hogsmeade," Harry said. "And I need you to stay here. Don't go outside," he ordered.

Sirius nodded blankly, as that strange feeling flashed through him again. What did it mean??

Harry left without saying goodbye. Sirius stayed where he was, but lifted his right hand to his face. With his other hand, he dug his fingernails into his upraised palm. He scratched the skin, harder and harder, leaving deep gouges in his palm. There should have been blood gushing through the cuts, spilling onto the hardwood floor like a morbid parody of a waterfall.

Instead, all he saw was the bright gleam of metal. He knew that the rest of his body was the same way - completely metal on the inside, covered in a layer of synthenetic skin and donated hair. He was a robot, running on the energy and artificial intelligence that Harry had given him. He didn't know who the human Sirius had been. All he knew was that the real Sirius no longer existed, and that he was nothing more than a carbon copy of him.

Harry returned shortly. When he noticed what Sirius had done to himself, his eyes darkened, and he scrutinized him for several long seconds. "Why did you do that?" Harry questioned.

"Because I can," Sirius replied flatly.

Harry exhaled slowly, his eyes never leaving him. "_I _made you. You _will_ obey me. And I do _not_ give you the right to destroy yourself," he whispered furiously.

Sirius stared back at him, the ugly feeling flaring inside him a third time. Harry seemed to somehow sense it, and he asked quietly, "do you hate me, Siri?"

"I'm not Sirius," he told him. "I've never been Sirius. I only look like him."

How long had he been like this? Years had slipped by, enough that Harry's temples were grey, and his skin had begun to wrinkle and sag. But Sirius had remained the same - his face smooth and clean-shaven, his straight black hair just past his shoulders, his skin unmarred by the wrinkles that came with age.

Sirius' brows drew together, and his lips stretched into a thin line; the action felt foreign. "Why did you do this to me?" he demanded in dull monotone. "Why am I like this?"

Harry gazed at him silently, arms crossed over his thin chest.

"Why?" Sirius repeated, that strange feeling seeming to burn at his insides, narrowing his vision till all he could see was Harry's face. A realization dawned upon Sirius even as he spoke it aloud - "I hate being here. I hate this body. "I hate _you_." He whispered the last sentence, and some distant part of his man-made mind roared in triumph as agony flashed for a mere moment across Harry's face.

"I _missed_ you. I _wanted_ you here," he revealed. "Is that _wrong_?"

Sirius shook his head slowly. "Let me go. Set me free."

Harry slowly crossed the room, to the small, dark, wooden desk tucked into the far corner. Removing a non-descript silver key from his pocket, he slid it into the lock of the bottom right drawer. He paused for a few seconds, murmuring indistinct word, then turned the key and reaching into the open drawer. What he drew out was a small, flat, black box. Harry went to stand back in front of Sirius. The two stared at each other with emotionless expressions.

"I'll set you free," Harry whispered as he softly pressed a round, red button near the middle of the box. Sirius slumped to the floor, and the last thing he saw before the void of nothingness took over him was a single tear sliding down Harry's face.

"I'll set you free....." he repeated to no one.


End file.
